Bluebirds
by Sadistic Shroom
Summary: James wasn't in love with the Cucumber. He was in love with Lily. At least, he thought he was. "You're like a bloody girl, mate, hopping from one to the other. You either love her or ya don't." Sirius grumbled. "Shut up, it's a very conflicting time for me. On one hand, if I marry Lily I'll have a son and die, but…" he trailed off. "But what?" "Sometimes Birdy smiles." James/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Curse

Her eyes were too big, too buggy, it was almost offsetting to look at them, James later decided. Round, glassy blue orbs that followed his movements around the room, silently observing him as he spoke to his friends.

Her name was Cucumber-at least her nickname was, he wasn't sure what her real name was, though he had heard her brother (he was half sure he was her brother, he could have been a cousin or something) call her Birdy or something a few times before.

To be honest James didn't really care, he hadn't even really noticed her until a few moments ago, when she ran into him, and looked up at him with her too big eyes, and frizzy curls.

He hadn't really had much of a chance to react before she had stuttered out a strange response, a slightly lisp marring her words before she practically ran the other way.

He had frowned after her for a solid five minutes before Sirius Black-his best mate since forever, James was pretty sure that if souls found each other, they had multiple times in many life times-asked him who he was staring at.

James gestured blandly in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, where the Cucumber was still staring at him with her horribly strange eyes, like she was seeing his soul. It was pretty creepy, actually.

Sirius had glanced over, and James watched with morbid fascination as a look of sheer terror flashed over his friend's features.

That was about the time he was pushed to the ground and dragged away by an angrily yelling Sirius Black.

He tried to ignore the baffled looks aimed in their direction.

Sirius forced him against a wall when they had gotten what he deemed an acceptable distance from the lunch room.

Then he yelled nonsense for a few more minutes, before finally calming himself in a really eerie sort of way that consisted of his features of rage contorting into that of utter calm.

He then demanded in a bland voice, "Why the hell were you staring at the Cucumber?"

James cleared his throat, and fought a smile as he replied slowly, "Who?"

Sirius gave him a look that said, 'I-don't-have-time-for-your-shit.'

James sighed, and replied casually, looking at his fingernails. "Well, uh, you see, 'Cucumber', or whatever her name actually is, has sort of been on the, 'never shagged that', list, so I figured, what the hell?"

It was a lie of course, and James was pretty sure Sirius knew it.

It had become a silent pack between their group of friends to have sex with a virgin before they graduate.

Sirius had come the closest in their 5th year, but she had backed out at the last minute.

James had picked a girl named Lily for this task, and was actually showing some promise with wearing her down as of late-and it made little sense to choose someone else after investing so much time.

Therefore, it came as little surprise when Sirius replied darkly, "I'll repeat it once more, why were you staring at the Cucumber?"

Distantly, James wondered how she got the nickname.

"She was looking at me." James finally said at seeing Sirius'… well, serious expression.

His best friend stilled, a look flashing across his face that caused James' blood to run cold.

Then Sirius had grabbed his arm, and was running down the corridor faster than James had ever seen his friend move.

Straight to the empty table where he yanked Cucumber up by her tie, and basically screamed, "When? When is it? When is it going to happen?"

Unsurprisingly, she started crying.

Sirius dropped her, as if suddenly realising what he was doing. The colour drained from his face, and he was yanked away by a teacher, probably to the Headmaster's office.

Cucumber continued to cry, her large, googly eyes filled with tears and rimmed red, snot running down her nose and mingling on her chin with the tears.

James gave her a wary look, and tentatively reached a hand out, before recoiling, and instead opting to say something along the lines of, 'It's alright Cucumber'.

She stopped crying at his words, looking up at him suddenly and wiping her face with her sleeve. "I hate that name," she muttered darkly, just as she was pulled away by the school healer.

James looked around, and chatter resumed in the room, he was nearly certain nobody had heard her speak.

Slowly, James kind his way back to the Gryffindor table, sitting in a random spot, feeling oddly numb.

James sat on the bench, his fingers grazing over a bit of water spilt on the table, lost in thought for an estimated time of 30 seconds before Lily violently whacked the back of his head, causing his face to thump against the table and his hand to splash in the small puddle of water.

He let out a sigh, before looking up at her blankly.

"Why the bloody hell was Sirius yelling at the Cucumber?" Lily asked sweetly, nonchalantly twirling a strand of hair between her fingers.

James knew it wasn't because she was nervous-he was quite certain Lily was never nervous about anything, that and she had been doing it for years, no matter who she was speaking with.

"She doesn't like that name," he heard himself grumble in response.

It seemed to surprise Lily about as much as it did him.

Her brow furrowed together, her emerald green orbs glistening slightly.

James forced himself to look away as he continued, "I dunno. Sirius seemed upset though, desperate to know why she was looking at me."

Lily stilled, and when James looked up, her eyes were full of unshed tears.

Then, her arms were around him, and she was holding his face to her chest, giving him a face full of tit.

"No, not you. Why couldn't it be anyone... anyone but you," to further prevent James from fully enjoying the situation, Lily's body back to rack with sobs, and her friends pried her away to comfort her.

James felt baffled as they walked away, leaving him only with the energy to stare after them in bemusement.

He was clearly missing something about 'Cucumber' (as much as he regretted calling her that, he truly had no idea what the hell her name was), something that everyone seemed to know except for him-and quite honestly, it was pissing him off.

So, like any rational human, James did some digging-alright, calling it that was a bit much, as he simply cornered one of Lily's friends and demanded her to tell him everything she knew about the Cucumber.

It was how he learned about the supposed curse.

If the Cucumber looked at you, you would die within the next year.

Not just any look, a passing glance didn't count, but everyone was still wary about her even looking at them. She had to full on look you in the eyes.

The girl who told him the story didn't know how she had gotten the nickname, but she did manage to point him in the direction of someone who probably did. She also didn't know what the Cucumber's real name was.

He found out after some prompting from the scariest kid in school-the same one Sirius was convinced would become a serial rapis and placed in Azkaban before they hit 1980-he learned Cucumber wasn't a reference to anything sexual like most people assumed, but rather the fact that during her first year in school, she continuously vomited.

His Muggle sister had been learning about Sea Cucumber's, and had written about it in one of her letters too him when he stumbled across her for the first time. It was then that he was explained too in a creepy monotone that Sea Cucumbers barfed when nervous or faced with a threatening situation.

James couldn't decide if it was clever or a dick move.

He decided not to comment.

It was around that time Sirius materialized next to him.

"You found out, didn't you?"

A nod.

"I'm sorry."

"What do you think her name is?"

Sirius gave him an odd look, telling him slowly, "Does it even matter? Just call her Cucumber-everyone else does."

James frowned at him. "She doesn't like it."

Sirius gave him an odd look, informing him blandly, "Why don't you just ask her if it matters so much?"

"I don't know where she is," he paused, glaring at his friend. "And you probably traumatised her."

Sirius scoffed. "She'll get over it."

James clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing. Her terrified eyes seared in his memory. "Yeah," he finally agreed, feeling slightly sick.

That morning felt like years ago, in reality it had only been about an hour ago.

James played with a string on his jacket, walking beside Sirius silently. Girls giggled and blushed as they passed, some waving or saying hello.

James forced himself to smile or nod in return, while Sirius occasionally stopped to flirt, leaving James to walk by himself.

He was halfway to his first lesson when he saw her again, Sirius having vanished to flirt with some slutty brunette.

Her face was clean, her bright eyes downcast, her frizzy blonde curls disheveled as the time he first saw her that morning.

Then she looked up at him, her eyes connecting with his.

He would have liked to say that time stopped for him. That he knew then. That he realised, that he understood.

But he didn't.

And instead of smiling, or nodding, or waving, or anything-he looked away, his eyes landing on the floor.

James felt dirty when she brushed past him.

He found himself looking back at her over his shoulder, a curious look on his face.

He didn't understand her, and he was nearly certain he never would.

* * *

**Note: I've never written a Marauder's story before-and this was originally going to take place in it's own universe as an original piece of fiction, but it wasn't getting any hits, so I took it down and made it FanFiction in hopes of have more interested people. I just want people to read my stories and like them, so yeah. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Birds chirped, and James found it harder to convince himself getting up was even worth it. His finger's traced over the tip of his quil, getting ink on his finger tips (he silently cursed the habit that had essentially caused him more irritation than anything), his gaze linger moments too long on Lily and Snivillius walking by the lake, easily ignoring the failing tentacles of the cursed squid in the background.

James fingered his parchment, glaring down at the paper when he realised it wasn't long enough. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Peter walking with a girl, and surpressed a grin.

It wasn't uncommon from the other Marauder to be seen flirting or chatting up girls, but it also wasn't a secret in their group of friends that Peter was terribly oblivious and often had a harder time working up the courage to talk to girls he liked.

It had been a couple of days since the Cucumber incident, (or as Sirius insisted on calling it, 'The Event', Remus glared and told him to not listen to rumors) and James hadn't seen her since. That was almost eerie in itself, as he was pretty sure they were the same age.

He should have at least had Herbology with her.

Maybe.

With a sort of annoyed sound escaping his throat, James pushed himself from the ground, wiping his ink stained fingers on the grass-to no avail-and walking in the direction of what was probably the library.

He wasn't pay attention, and that was apparently the reason he ran into a small, lanky figure, successfully knocking her over, and dropping his homework in a puddle.

He cursed, picking it up and shaking the water off, causing the ink to further run. He exhaled slowly, and helped the first year up before mumbling a half assed apology and moving with new intention of actually going to the library in hopes of finding a spell to reverse the effects of water on parchment.

Bother.

He was fiddling with his wand, his sodding wet parchment smack dead in the centre of the table when the Cucumber seemed to rise up out of the ground, her large, blue eyes-the colour of death they were, focused solely on his bloody essay.

She turned her head in a curious manner, gingerly reaching a pale hand out and picking it up, pulling her wand out and placing the tip against it, she mumbled something too quiet for James to hear, placed down the now revived parchment, and sat down across the table from him.

The entire situation was surreal.

So, like any rational wizard, James told her, "Thanks."

She just blinked at him, her gaze hallow and her curls jostling whenever she moved in the slightest.

He was just about to give up, and move to a different table for research, when she suddenly said, "It won't happen."

Her voice was airy, almost dreamy.

It distantly reminded James of Xenophillous Lovegood, a complete nutter a few years below him.

"What?" He finally responded, having mulled over her sudden statement for a few moments.

"You won't die, James Potter." the Cucumber told him. "At least, if you don't marry Lily Evans."

James' brow pulled together, "Sorry?"

She seemed to roll her eyes, exasperated that he didn't immediately understand. She gave a sort of sigh, as if deciding it wasn't worth it and pushing herself up from her seat. "Never mind," she grumbled.

She started to walk away, and James quickly called out, halting her movements, "Wait! What's your name anyway? I can't very well call you 'Cucumber' all the time, can I?"

He didn't mention he knew how much she seemed to hate it.

She turned slightly, looking back at him almost. She seemed to consider it for a long moment, her eyes hiding something beneath the surface that James couldn't bring himself to differentiate.

"My name is Peregrine. Last name Falcon," she said the last part almost nervously. "But you can call me Birdy, if you like."

...

The following weeks crawled by in a sort of daze for James-one filled with strange conversations with Sirius and borderline 'pillow talk' with Lily in the Gryffindor common room after everyone else went to bed.

Peregrin-he wasn't quite comfortable calling her Birdy, she had after all informed him of his supposed death-had begun demonstrating her knack for complete evasion soon after he learned her name and his essay was saved from certain death.

Things were going so well, in fact, that James had nearly forgotten the fact that school was almost on winter break.

He only truly realised how close the actual holiday was when Peregrin popped up next to him, her tie slung over her shoulders and her cloak missing, her blonde curls wind blown and wild as ever.

She then handed him a sugar quill.

It was almost surreal.

To compensate for not having anything to give her in return (he hadn't been aware their 'relationship' had progressed to the point of present exchanging), he awkwardly gave her his extra quill, earning himself the most scathing look that had ever been bestowed upon him, scoffed and walked away.

James had two theories.

Logically he was going to choose the second (because as he and Sirius had taken from Muggles, the first was typically the worst, and second always the best. He was only half sure that was a genuine rhyme.).

That meant Peregrin was probably planning on killing him.

He propelled himself forward, tripping over his feet and successfully rammed his face into the floor, breaking his nose. Yay for him.

He didn't move for several moments, slightly shocked at his bout of clumsiness.

The giggles were what finally got him moving, his hand latching around his wand and a scowl marring his face as he pushed up his broken glasses.

He stopped when he realised it was only Peregrin.

Her eyes were closed, her nose scrunched up as if she had smelt something awful, and her cheeks turning red.

She also sounded like a pig.

He scoffed, but his heart wasn't really behind it.

Then she was helping him stand, a bright, impossibly wide smile etched into her face that reminded James of the Cheshire Cat he had read about in some sodding Muggle book in hopes to impress Lily (it hadn't worked, obviously),

And for a moment, Peregrin looked sort of beautiful.

Then he remembered she was laughing at his broken, bleeding nose, and whatever he had felt was ruined, irritation at himself and her filling it's place.

"S'not funny, Peregrin." he grumbled, his voice sounding strained.

She rolled her eyes, looping her arm through his. "Told ya to call me Birdy, Peregrin's a shitty name. Being a boy's name and all."

He pulled his arm from her's, making a sound that he didn't really recognise.

She whacked his arm. "Oh shut it, Jamie. It's not like anyone is even around to tell your precious Lily-petal that you so much as dared to speak to another female."

James looked at her in bemusement. Whatever it was that he had expected from her personality, whatever he had thought she would be like was quickly being proven wrong.

"You're a bit strange."

"You are certainly one to talk, at least my friends don't assault girls for so much as looking at their friends."

James gave her a sort of look, and she made a gurgling sound, quickly turning heeling in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

They didn't speak for a while, and James was about to fill it with meaningless chatter when she spoke-she seemed to do that a lot. "I've done it since I was a little girl, never been able to control when it happens. Jus' does. When I saw you, I guess I kind of knew. 'That bloke is gonna die soon,' it just made sense all of a sudden. If you married Lily Evans, you would die, and there was nothin' I could do." she paused, looking up from her shoes, and locking her eyes with James'.

"I tried to look away, but you were laughing, your friends looked so happy with you 'round. Then you saw me lookin' and I wanted to say something, to tell you that it would be okay-but I couldn't, because you would die if I didn't do anything."

She leaned forward suddenly, kissing his cheek, her large eyes rimming red and glistening over with unshed tears.

Before he could really react, she was halfway down the hall, vanishing around the corner.

"Peregrin Falcon," the name fit nicely in his mouth, and slipped out easily. He grinned despite himself, despite her, feeling oddly satisfied with how things had turned out. His hand wandered up to his cheek, resting against the spot where she had pressed her lips against him.

It felt warm still.

...

Sirius was less than amused when he learned about James' 'afternoon' with Peregrin.

Remus had rolled his eyes, and praised James in his ever polite tone that had begun to grate on his nerves.

Peter didn't seem to realise the gravity of the situation, as Sirius explained it.

James ignored them, playing with a loose string on his sleeve.

"Honestly mate, why would you even want to talk to the Cucumber-"

James cut him off. "Her name is Peregrin."

"Peregrin? Bloody hell Prongs, you're on a first name basis?"

Peregrin was a mouthful, James decided, oblivious to his friend's shock.

Birdy, he decided. Birdy will do.

'Sides, he knew she liked it.

"What would Lily think?" it was stated dramatically, and clearly meant as jest, but James couldn't help but glance over at the redheaded girl.

His eyes drifted to the Hufflepuff table soon after, and his gaze collided with blue.

He smiled and gave a sort of half way, earning himself a smile and shake of the head, and for a moment, he found it hard to care about what Lily thought.

...

**Note: Peter Pettigrew, while I would gladly stab him with an iguana, and force him to step on a million legos, he isn't necessarily going to be such an outcast in the Marauder's like most stories potray him. Don't get me wrong, I love a good Peter bashing story as much as anyone-I just don't find it truly probable. He was friends with them for 7 years, so he surely had something good about him. **

**Also, I couldn't think of a last name, and I like birds. Therefore, peregrin falcon, which is a lovely bird, I think. Was very close to just sticking her with Took as a last name. hehe**


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed/faved/followed this story! I really appreciate it. **

Chapter Three: Definitely

He lost his transfiguration essay-that was when his day began to sour.

Then, Lily's best mate Marlene 'accidentally' flung pudding at him when he 'rudely' greeted Lily.

Honestly.

He didn't even say anything other than some vague grunt of acknowledgement.

Lily seemed rather affronted, and was currently glaring at the Hufflepuff table, mumbling darkly about 'the influences of rotten souls'.

It was a load of horse rubbish, and James opened his mouth to tell Lily to sod off and leave the poor, dysfunctional girl alone, when Remus pulled him up by the arm, and Sirius chimed in to continue belittling Birdy.

"Oi, you forgot one thing," Lily glanced over. "The Cucumber's a right monster that one-she probably dreams blissfully about gorging the eyeballs out of infants eye sockets and eating them."

James forced himself not to say how ridiculous that was.

From his random encounters with the girl, he'd come to his own conclusions regarding her-while she was exceptionally strange, Birdy wasn't mean or anything.

He allowed Remus to drag him out of the potentially dangerous situation and only half listened as his friend demanded to know what was going on with him.

In all honesty James himself wasn't sure. He'd been moody, and snappish for the past week or so-since his last conversation with Birdy that hadn't ended very well.

He cringed at the memory. She was probably willing to let him die at this point.

Instead of actually telling Remus his delimma, he grumbled something about his tranfigurtion essay vanishing on him, to which he recieved a disbelieving look.

Remus suddenly smacked him, sufficently shocking James enough to gap like a fish.

"Listen, mate. I don't know what's wrong with you or Sirius, but you really need to get your shit together." Remus snapped.

_What was wrong with Sirius? _James wondered, trying to think of something that could be bothering his friend.

Remus scoffed, informing his friend blandly, "You wouldn't have noticed. You've been a shitty friend lately, James."

The last part was said in exasperation, giving James the hint that he was forgiven. He didn't say anything until Remus sighed and started walking away.

"I'm sorry."

Remus didn't stop walking.

...

She was poking him.

Repeatedly.

_On the bloody head. _

Reluctantly, James lifted his head.

Birdy's face was inches from his own, her glassy eyes studying him intently. James lowered his head again, ignoring her protest.

Finally, with a sigh, she sat next to him.

Vaguely, he wondered how she got into his rooms.

"What's wrong James?"

He didn't say anything.

Birdy frowned, leaning foward to rest her head in her hands, and turned it to the side, observing him silently.

"I made a new friend today," Birdy said suddenly, sounding about as baffled as James felt in that moment.

James looked up, and asked bitterly, "Who?"

"Fiona Fitzbarret, lovely girl... bit queer." Birdy said the last part slowly, almost as if she wasn't exactly sure herself.

James scowled. "Fiona Fitzbarret? Who the bloody hell is that?"

Birdy made a strange gesture with her hands, before shrugging awkwardly. "Dunno. Called me 'Cucumber' though. I was nearly certain I'd have anoth... nevermind." she trailed off at James' scathing glare.

"Another what?" James asked, nearly dreading the answer.

"It's nothing James." she told him, pushing herself from her seat. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, at this rate I'll have something to write brother about! He's always worrying himself to death."

_With good reason. _

...

Lily giggled, and for once, it was at something James had said.

It was in passing, a brief, dry quip at one of their professors-James couldn't even remember who or what he had said exactly, just that Lily was laughing, and it sounded like Spring.

Light, and warm, like bells. It was easily and undeniably the most beautiful laugh he had ever heard.

James smiled, as did the rest of the people who heard it.

Lily grinned at him when she finally calmed herself, chastening him lightly, "James, you shouldn't say that about Professor Binns, it's not-"

Whatever she had been about to say was lost as she dissolved into a fit of laughter once more.

Really, James didn't think it had been that funny.

Sirius nudged him, giving his friend a suggestive wink to which James glared slightly. Things where less tense between the Marauders, but not exactly the same as it'd been before.

Still.

Sirius was a wanker.

The group continued walking to their first class-Potions, with Slytherins, ew-with a sense of unity among them.

In their 6th year, the Marauders and the Gryffindor Princess, were easily the most talked about people in school, and the most liked.

It was only inevitable that they would also walk together.

And it was no secret James had a thing for Lily-most males at the school did, she was bloody gorgeous.

So, that was probably why no one was surprised when Lily started laughing at his jokes, and started complaining a lot less about his flirting (she still complained mind you).

Once in potions James made small talk with his partner, a freakishly mellow Slytherin who probably should have been placed in Hufflepuff...

He was thinking about Birdy again.

He hadn't spoken to her since the library, nor had he seen her. Sirius seemed thrilled by that, and Remus insisted (despite having half the school against him) that she was nice.

Peter clearly couldn't careless (though he did comment in passing that she was rather lovely, earning himself a whack on the back of the head from Sirius and a glare from James).

It was odd, Lily Evans was what he knew he wanted. Red hair, green eyes, all around lovely person.

He didn't want frizzy blonde hair and vacant blue eyes.

James sighed, running his fingers along the side of potions textbook, yanking his hand away quickly when he gave himself a paper cut.

"Ouch! Dammit," he hissed to himself, ignoring the odd look from the Slytherin beside him, her lips curling up in a sneer.

Perhaps she wasn't as nice as he had presumed.

...

Birdy was mad at him. And for the life of him, James couldn't figure out what it was he had actually done.

She sat with her back straight, her curls spiralling in various directions (the usual, really) with her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed at him.

Terrifying was a word that came to mind.

Then she smacked him, her eyes watering and rimming red-his mind violently flashed back to the first time he had met her, when Sirius managed to successfully scare the living shit out of her.

That hadn't been a good day.

So, he stammered out a frantic apology, distantly wondered how the hell she managed to get away with smacking him and getting an apology in return.

"Honestly, Birdy, if you just told me-" Merlin, he felt like a pleading boyfriend, "-what I've done then maybe I could fix it!"

She stopped abruptly, causing James to stumble over his own feet.

She sighed deeply, then gave a sort of broken smile. "She leaves on a Saturday," she told him, her eyes looking glassier-dull, vacant, really-than normal.

Her face was blank and she didn't seem to be really looking at him.

It took a minute for James to finally realise. "Oh! Oh shit, you're having a bloody vision...thing... uh," he looked around for some paper, not finding any. "Fuck. I really hope I remember this."

"She leaves you. You plead, and beg her to say-but she won't listen. She takes the baby, packs her bags, and doesn't even spare you a glance over her shoulder."

Then she snapped back to reality, shaking her head slightly and nearly toppling over. He grabbed her arm in an attempt to study her.

Then he asked, "What the fuck just happened?"

She looked down. "Nana calls them songs. Though in actuality they are much more similar to mini-prophecies."

James nodded, pretending to understand. He didn't really, but he didn't understand a lot of things about Birdy-he figured that sort of came with the territory.

"So uh, do you actually have visions...?"

"Yeah." a sort of smile twisted along her face, and she looked up, her eyes meeting his. She looked more alive than he had ever seen her. "I saw my children, and they had the most beautiful eyes."

She sounded almost dreamy, wistful.

"Who was he?" he heard himself ask. "Your husband, I mean." he clarified.

Birdy shrugged. "Dunno. He had brown eyes though. Only saw him once when I was 5, didn't exactly understand."

James grinned, mussing her hair up. "Hope he finds you-'cause he'd be sad to know he's been missing you a lot sooner if it were up to me."

Birdy force herself not to grin, a blush warming her cheeks.

"Anyway, I was going to ask you to hold my bag-it has Sirius' birthday present inside, and the wanker avoid you like you've got the flu-"

She cut him off with an amused sort of look. "So you want me to hold it so he won't find it?"

"Precisly."

Birdy shrugged. "Yeah, sure."


End file.
